Lifting tongs



' J. BERGREN LIFTING TONGS June 25, 1946.

Filed July 18, 1945 Patented June 25, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim. 1

My invention relates to lifting tongs, and more particularly to a novel form of tongs for lifting cloth articles of various kinds out of hot liquids such as in a wash tub, to avoid soiling or injuring the operators hands, and when desired, enable the placing of such articles into a Wringer, or the like, without the need of the operators hand touching the articles.

The chief object of my invention is to provide an inexpensive and durable construction which will not only lessen the manufacturing cost of items of this nature, but will make the same more desirable from a point of view of the user.

The above and other objects of my invention will become apparent from the following detailed specification and the attached drawing.

Referring to the drawing wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a side view partly in elevation and partly in vertical axial section;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, my improved tongs comprise the two arms I and 2, each of which are shown as being provided with rounded outer surfaces 3 and fiat opposed faces 4.

Spaced from one of the ends of each of the arms I and 2 is a transverse bore 5 which bores, when the matched arms are placed in position as illustrated in Fig. 1, become aligned. Through these aligned openings 5 extends a coil spring 6 which is under tension and which has its opposite ends anchored to cross pins 1, shown as being countersunk in the outer surface of the arms I and 2.

The opposed flat faces of arms I and 2 are shown as being provided with segmental slots 8.

which can be made of any desired material, is inserted. It will be observed that the contour of the segmental slots is approximately the contour of the periphery of the roller 9. Also, it will be observed that the radius of said segmental slots 8 is considerably less than the radius of roller 9,

, with a result that only a portion of the roller Into these opposed segmental slots a roller 9,

rests in the slots. Also of importance is the fact that the segmental slots 8 are axially closed and closely embrace the opposite ends of the roller 8 to thereby prevent torque twisting of the arms, one with respect to the other.

While in the device illustrated, the spring tension means 6 is located approximately midway between the roller and the closed outside ends I ll of the arms I and 2, it is obvious that the precise positioning of this tension means, the depth of the segmental slots 8 and size of the roller 9 may be varied to meet varying conditions.

While I have described a commercial form of my invention, all as required by section 4888 of the statutes, nevertheless it should be obvious that my invention is subject to various modifications and changes without departing from the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is:

In a device of the kind described, a pair of swingable arms, aligned transverse bores adjacent the closed ends of said arms, a coil spring extending through said aligned bores with its opposite ends anchored to cross pins on the outer surfaces of said arms and tending to keep the ends of said arms together. a roller interposed between said arms at a point slightly in advance of said coil spring, said roller resting in a pair of opposed segmental slots in said arms, said slots having substantially the same contour as the periphery of said roller but being of considerably less depth than the radius of said roller.

' JULIUS BERGREN. 

